This invention relates to bleaching compositions. More particularly, this invention relates to bleaching compositions that provide effective and efficient bleaching performance on textiles. Such bleaching performance is obtained over an extremely wide class of stains and wide range of temperatures of the bleaching solution, i.e., the bleach and water mixture, and pH. The bleaching compositions within the invention contain a halogenated peroxybenzoic acid and a bleach activator that contains a carbonyl carbon atom that can potentially react with such peroxybenzoic acid to form a diacyl peroxide compound or essentially any peroxycarboxylic acid and a bleach activator that contains a carbonyl carbon atom that has an alkyl group containing from about 5 to about 17 carbon atoms and can potentially react with the peroxycarboxylic acid to form a diacyl peroxide compound. In a highly preferred embodiment the bleaching compositions within the invention are detergent compositions.
It has long been known that peroxygen bleaches that yield hydrogen peroxide in an aqueous solution provide a desirable level of bleaching performance, but that they are also extremely temperature dependent. Such bleaches are essentially only practicable and/or effective in bleaching solutions wherein the solution temperature is above about 60.degree. C. At bleach solution temperatures of about 60.degree. C. peroxygen bleaches are only partially effective, due to their low level of reactivity. Therefore, in order to obtain a desirable level of bleaching performance extremely high levels of peroxygen bleach must be added to the system. As the bleach solution temperature is lowered below 60.degree. C., even higher levels of peroxygen bleach must be added to the system in order to obtain a desirable level of bleaching performance. The temperature dependence of peroxygen bleaches is significant because such bleaches are commonly used as a detergent adjuvant in textile wash processes that utilize an automatic household washing machine at wash water temperatures below 60.degree. C. Such wash temperatures are utilized because of textile care and energy considerations. As a consequence of such wash processes, there has been much industrial research to develop substances, generally referred to as bleach activators, that render peroxygen bleaches effective at bleach solution temperatures below 60.degree. C. Numerous substances have been disclosed in the art as effective bleach activators.
Typically, the substances that have been utilized as bleach activators are substances that react with the perhydroxide anion of hydrogen peroxide, which is yielded by the peroxygen bleach in the bleaching solution, to form a peroxy acid. Peroxy acids are more reactive than the peroxygen bleach alone and, therefore, can provide bleaching at bleach solution temperatures below about 60.degree. C. Many of the peroxy acids are peroxycarboxylic acids. The peroxycarboxylic acids are derived from bleach activators that contain a carbonyl carbon that reacts with the perhydroxide anion to form the peroxycarboxylic acid. Examples of such bleach activators are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,248,928, Spadini et al (Feb. 3, 1981); 4,146,573, Johnston (Nov. 21, 1978) and 4,100,095, Hutchins et al (July 11, 1978).